A new-world spin on old tradition

The royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was grand in many ways, but perhaps the most striking aspect were the myriad collisions of American and British culture.

The wedding was an unprecedented mix of royal pomp, British tradition, black-American culture and Hollywood celebrity. Britain's longest-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, named a TV star the Duchess of Sussex before the native Angeleno was wed by the archbishop of Canterbury in a ceremony that opened with the soft serenade of a string section and ended with a gospel choir's rousing rendition of "Stand by Me."

In between was the animated sermon of Bishop Michael Bruce Curry, the first black American to serve